Centaurus variant – Analog Artist Digital World

The COVID-19 virus continues to create new variants. Some hope that the new variants will be less infectious and less deadly. However this outcome is not guaranteed. When I shared an illustration titled “Vaxed and Relaxed” I got a response from a nurse saying, “Working in the ER now, Covid is very much not “over”. I wish people took health and safety more seriously.”

I sketched at an opening last week and I was one of two people wearing a mask in a crowd of perhaps 300 people pressed into two gallery rooms. For most Americans the pandemic is over as hospitalizations slowly decline. The virus however has plenty of human fuel as we head into the fall season, ignorant and unprepared.

A new variant following on the heals of BA 5 is variant BA 2.75 nicknamed ‘Centaurus’. Studies suggest that this variant is similar to BA 5 which is capable to dodge immunity conferred by infection and vaccination. The variant seems to have a “quite sizeable” transmission advantage over BA.5 according to Tom Wenseleers, an evolutionary biologist at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, who has modeled its rise.

The Centaurus variant has arrived in Florida in mid-August. Viral loads are once again rising in the Miami, Orlando and Tampa Bay areas. Coronavirus particles found in wastewater from Orange County, home to Orlando, have nearly doubled in the past two weeks. COVID tests conducted last month in Florida confirmed that the BA.2.75 omicron sub-variant, which fueled a recent wave of infections in India, is circulating among people in the state.

So, have you gotten your fall vaccine booster? If not, you may be juggling chainsaws with little experience.

A random Twitter user named the new BA2.75 variant of Omicron the Centaurus variant. The name seems to be sticking since all the news outlets have adopted it. BA2.75 was first detected in India in early May 2022. BA.2.75 has also since been detected in about 10 other countries, including the UK, US, Australia, Germany, Canada, and now the San Francisco Bay area in the United States. Centaurus will likely out compete BA5 in the coming weeks.

The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) designated it a “variant under monitoring” on 7 July, meaning there is some indication that it could be more transmissible or associated with more severe disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) is also closely monitoring the new variant, although its chief scientist, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, said there were not yet enough samples to assess its severity.

Last year Delta seemed to be the worst case scenario, but Omicron which came seemingly out of nowhere was a major curve ball. Since the new variants of the BA lineage of COVID are getting better at evading immune protection form past infection and vaccines, it is becoming clear that the virus can not be treated like the common flu. It will be a problem for generations.